There's No Rest, Even In A Restroom

The Fast Sell Hits The Civic Center Fan

This story is about an advertising approach that involves placing small billboards above sinks and urinals in restrooms at the Civic Center.

It is, of course, not possible to write this story without first sinking, er, make that plunging, into the very depths of bathroom humor.

So in the interest of time and taste, let us pause to relieve ourselves of the obvious puns and wordplay.

To wit:

Headlines USA-New England, the Manchester firm behind the movement, feels flushed with success over the canny way it is bowling over advertisers with promises of public exposure. (Kind of makes you want to wash your hands, doesn't it?)

Anyway.

Headlines USA-New England is owned by Larry Kelly and Donna Juras, who purchased the regional rights to the business 18 months ago from Houston-based Headlines USA. Mark Evetts, a computer programmer, founded Headlines USA in 1988. He got the idea from the practice some establishments have of posting newspaper pages above the urinals in men's rooms.

"Talk about a captive audience," Kelly says. "What else do you do in there but stare at the wall?"

The Civic Center recently signed a three-year agreement with Headlines USA-New England to install 74 adboards in its 16 restrooms.

Adboard rates run $20 to $30 per placement per month. Each board can accommodate as many as 10 ads, depending on size. The roughly dollar-a-day cost makes them cheaper than such traditional advertising vehicles as newspapers, radio and TV, outdoor billboards, magazines and direct mailing.

The Civic Center will receive a percentage from all advertising receipts, as well as a commission on any ads it sells. If all the available advertising space were sold, the gross revenue would amount to about $20,000 per month. The Civic Center is expected to earn $10,000 to $25,000 annually from the adboards.

In addition to the Civic Center, Headlines USA-New England has

put adboards at The Sting in New Britain, America's Cup in Middletown, Hot Tamale's, Chuck's, several golf courses, and health and racquet clubs.

Juras and Kelly admit potential advertisers are often amused when first approached. "There is usually a little bit of laughter," Kelly says, "but then they think about it. And you don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out the advantages. It's a great business when you can make people laugh, and make money."

Besides offering an atmosphere conducive to reading and reflection, restrooms are also high-traffic areas.

Studies by Rice University and Arizona State University show the average person attending a three-to-four-hour event where alcohol is served will use the restrooms 1.3 times.

Given the transitory nature of beer, those figures appear conservative for events such as rock concerts, basketball and hockey games.

The university studies also show that the average restroom visit ranges from 30 seconds to four minutes, and that facility users are as much as 10 times more ad retentive.

It would seem adboards in men's restrooms, directly above the urinals, are the more strategically positioned. Considering the alternatives, they are pretty close to being required reading.

In comparison, adboards in the women's restrooms are strung out above -- and some might argue in direct competition with -- the mirrors. Juras disagrees that they are less effective. "Women are more curious," she says. "They will read the ads. Another thing is many times women go to the restrooms for no other reason than to accompany another woman. It gives them something to do while they wait."

Because restrooms separate the sexes, advertisers can easily target their audiences. "Some advertisers don't want to reach everyone," Kelly says. "In the Civic Center, for example, there is an ad for Planned Parenthood in the women's room but not in the men's. If your product is health related, we can put you in health clubs. If you want to reach golfers, we can put you at golf courses. We can match lifestyle, sex, income level. ... "

The vandalism rate for adboards is less than 2 percent. "People would rather read than write," Kelly says. (Note: All Civic Center adboards were still in place after last week's Metallica concert.)

Surprisingly, one of the places you will not find adboards is inside individual restroom stalls. That is because these contemplative cells don't attract as much traffic.

From a cultural perspective, this is a positive.

Adboards could lead to the demise of an entire literary art form, stall poetry.

And what of those who rely on stall walls for information on whom to call for a really good time?